


flash

by satyrgod



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:21:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satyrgod/pseuds/satyrgod
Summary: Quickly teleporting to the Dead God’s Pad, there, walking around like he owned the place (Technically, he used to.), was Joshua Kiryu.Joshua Kiryu, who Neku had shot dead many years ago.It was times like this he hated that composers could visit different timelines.





	flash

Neku felt a chill run down his back as he felt a new piece of music enter Shibuya.

He wondered why he suddenly felt on edge, when the realization of how familiar that new music was.

No.

_God no._

This shouldn’t even be possible.

Quickly teleporting to the Dead God’s Pad, there, walking around like he owned the place (Technically, he used to.), was Joshua Kiryu.

Joshua Kiryu, who Neku had shot dead many years ago.

It was times like this he hated that composers could visit different timelines.

“Who let you redecorate this place? This is honestly terrible, Neku.” Joshua said, shaking his head before turning around to face him, giving him a little wave.

Neku was speechless, unable to process the sudden presence in front of him.

“Why are you here? _” Neku asked, irritation rising as Joshua simply flopped himself down on the couch. _Neku’s__ couch.

“Now, now, can’t we at least pretend to be civil? You’re always so aggressive.” With the lightest chiming of bells, two mugs of coffee appear on the coffee table in front of Joshua, both black.

“You seriously know how I take my coffee?” Neku said, warily taking a seat next to the other, who only answered with a light laugh before picking up his own coffee and taking a drink of it.

“The Neku of my timeline and I have made amends, of sorts,” Joshua said, and Neku briefly wondered what it would have been like to have the _chance_ to make amends with him.

“But, unfortunately, I did come here with a question in mind, as nice as it would be to have simple small talk with you.”

Neku sighed, picking up his own coffee and taking a long swig. Perfect temperature, no burning at all.

“Of course. Like you’d do anything outside of your own benefit, anyway.”

“You know me so well,” Joshua laughed, brushing aside a piece of his hair with his finger.

“Now then, I believe my question is quite simple.” The smile disappears off his face, his expression now blank and unreadable.

“Killing me, during that battle. Do you think it was for the best?”

_That’s not a simple question at all, you dick._

Neku heaves out a long, heavy sigh, setting down his coffee mug, looking anywhere but at Joshua.

“Fuck no.” He said simply, leaning on the armrest of the couch and very pointedly staring at the opposite wall and not Joshua beside him.

“...Is that all?” Joshua prodded, clearly not satisfied with no elaboration.

“You’re the same as always, huh?” Neku said, slumping further into the armrest, away from the other.

“...I have no idea what I’m doing.” He says quietly, eyes closing. “I wasn’t ready for this kinda responsibility, but I couldn’t just let everyone in the city _die._ ” He exhales a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t wanna kill you. I didn’t know I had any other choice. Why do you do shit like this?”

Having his question turned on him was something he didn’t expect. To be honest, Joshua came here to hear a “Yes, asshole. Everything is perfect without you, go tell your Neku to hurry up and get rid of you too.” from him, but this was…

Well. Neku did always surprise him, didn’t he?

“With your imagination, you don’t need to know everything, Neku. To be honest, when I became Composer, I was in quite a similar state to you.” Eyes downcast, he sips more from his coffee.

“This city is beautiful. It’s thriving, it’s alive. It has an entire new energy to it… I think it’s quite beautiful, even if your choice in aesthetics could use some work.”

Neku finally turns around, glaring at him, though he’s far more angry at himself, than Joshua.

“What are you even trying to say here?!”

“It would have been better for me to die.” Joshua says, so casually, as if there’s no weight behind his words at all.

Neku opened his mouth, but found he couldn’t think of any response at all. What _can_ you even say to that?

“You said you and your Neku made amends.” He said, finally, leaning back on the couch. “That alone proves you wrong, y’know.”

He pauses, struggling to figure out how to word what he’s saying next.

“...You chose me because I was closed off. Isolated. But you were too, weren’t you?”

Joshua didn’t respond. He didn’t have to, anyway. Neku already knew.

“You have me now, and I know if you have me, you have others too. I grew, thanks to them, and… As much as I hate it, thanks to you, too. I want to think you could have grown too, if you’d lived. If we’d both lived.”

He falls silent, staring at the ceiling.

“I know you’re here cuz you’re guilty. You’re doing this real backwards, you know that? If you have something to say to your own Neku, you should just say it. I’m not here to fuel your self-destructive bullshit.”

Josh just laughs here, a loud one, a _real_ one, and it hits Neku that this is the first time he’s heard it.

“Oh, Neku, you silly thing, you’ll break your leg jumping to all these conclusions!” He puts down his coffee cup, faint bursts of laughter still rising up from him.

“I was just here to…” He pauses, looking to the side, and Neku knows he’s about to tell him some bullshit lie, or some half-truth that he oh-so-loved. “...See how the city was being run, with you in charge, rather than me. I thought you would be doing a bang up job, you see. I was curious how we compared.” He takes a pointed sip of his coffee, closing his eyes, and Neku notes he still won’t look at him.

“...Uh huh. Well, whatever your reasons, you got what you wanted now, right? So what are you sticking around for?”

“No particular reason, I suppose.”

And with that, the other stands up, turning to face Neku..  
“Before we part, though. I want you to know you’re doing well for yourself. Do try not to beat yourself up over how you came to be here.. In the end, it is for the best.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that.” Neku says flatly, though the words do feel good to him. He wonders if his own Joshua would feel the same way… “...You do well for yourself too, though. Try to actually _talk_ to people for once, ok?”

Joshua just smiles at him, and disappears in a flash, gone just as quick as he appeared.

Neku, exhausted, collapses against the couch. Dealing with Joshua was always like this, he remembers. Exhausting, hardly worth it… But something in Neku couldn’t allow him to give up on him.

He lays his arm over his eyes, finding himself wondering, yet again, what his life would have been like had Joshua survived.


End file.
